The Complete Guide to Macbeth
The whole story, told properly — three witches, one murder, and the fastest fall in Shakespeare.
Introduction
- The shortest, fastest tragedy — What this play is, and why it moves like a thriller
- 1606: writing for a king who survived a bomb — The most dangerous material in the theatre, handled live
The world behind the play
- A universe with a king on top — Why killing Duncan breaks more than the law
- Witches, and the art of lying with the truth — The two fears of 1606 that power the play
Through the play
- Act One: the prophecy — A hero, a heath, and three words that end a world
- Act One: the persuasion — Lady Macbeth reads a letter, and a marriage goes to work
- Act Two: the murder night — A dagger in the air, blood on two pairs of hands, and knocking
- Act Three: the feast and the ghost — A crown with no heir, a friend with a prophecy, a chair that isn't empty
- Act Four: the floor — The cauldron, the slaughter of the innocents, and grief that fights back
- Act Five: the unravelling — A sleepwalker, a moving wood, and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
The characters
- The Macbeths: anatomy of a marriage — The most analysed couple in drama, phase by phase
- The moral architecture around Macbeth — Every supporting character answers a question about him
The themes
- The themes, working as one machine — Ambition is only the motor — here's the whole engine
The writer's craft
- How it's written: verse, image and sound — The densest verbal texture in Shakespeare, made usable
Interpretations
- The open questions — Where the best essays live
The examination
- Taking it into the exam — Questions, a model paragraph, and the traps